N
N (short for Never) is a surrealist film that was released in 2014. It has become infamous due to its subject matter, its attacks on the music industry and certain artists and the escalating backlash fans threw against the film. The film hasn't been seen publicly since 2015, but it has been released on DVD. Structure The film begins with a series of black and white clips featuring the creators of the film (with their faces blurred out) on vacation at a tropical location. The camera pans into a small dark opening where we get a color shot of a mysterious figure removing an active lightbulb, causing the screen to got to black. We then cut to a group of teenagers who're drinking in an alleyway. They convince one of the reluctant youths to join in, which she does. The youths are then caught in a trance, which ends following the sound of a gunshot, giving the idea that one of the members were killed. This is eventually revealed to be a daydream held by the youth (O'Malley) who merely stares blankly at her noteless sheet of paper. Later, we cut to the girl who's walking home by herself. Nobody else is outside. Upon making it home, and noting that she's alone, she ventures into the kitchen for a snack. To her surprise, she sees a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs has been left for her. She eats it and she places the bowl into the sink, but is shocked to find that there's blood in the drain. She also notices that another dish is in the sink, so she believes that it was likely just the residue from a previous dish. She then goes to her room to watch some television, but no channels come in. Bored, she decides to take a nap for the time being until somebody comes home. She is awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of music. Looking out the window, she sees nobody and the music cuts out. The music then plays louder inside of her house and upon going to her stereo, believing that the music is coming from there, she's shocked to find that the stereo isn't plugged in. She runs out of the house, noticing that the scenery has become black and white while only she is in color. She decides to visit one of her friends in order to understand what's going on. Upon getting there, she is invited for dinner, but is immediately turned off when she sees the people at the table are eating a charred dog. The girl is quick to accuse the family of potential murder, but the family nonchalantly claims that she is overreacting. The girl escapes the house and she runs towards a tunnel. While inside, she notices she's not covering any more ground, but she presses on, eventually reaching the pier. She sees a bottle of beer at the end of the dock and she runs toward it, only to see a beacon of light at the end, withe bottle merely being an illusion. She backs away from the light and falls down a hole, landing back in the alleyway. Production The film was originally a short video that was produced for Chad Dickson's film class. It was around 15 minutes and it received mixed to favorable reviews from his class. With encouragement from his friend Justin Cavilero, he decided to expand upon the film and make it a full feature. Additional staff members became involved in the production of the movie, and they had to work with a $100,000 budget due to a lack of proper resources. They eventually got additional support from producers Lilly Laney and Frank Novice during a scouting session they were performing in Ohio. An additional 135 minutes was added to the movie, and it was set to be released within a month. The film was given a limited theatrical release, with Freestyle Releasing handling the distribution. The film was promptly banned soon after, but the film re-entered circulation after Forbidden Films agreed to distribute the film on home media. Reception Box Office Thanks to its small budget, the film was a commercial success. The production team divided the earnings and put it towards improving their production label SEI Pictures. Reception The film received mixed reviews, and it currently has a 58% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus being "An absurdist "documentary" that'd be enough to make even David Lynch blush." While the surreal aspects of the movie were praised, critics lambasted the occasional padding.